Watchin' Fish!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday...another year older!  My mom, Austin and Hadley planned a special evening for me.  When Austin got off work we all headed out to the dinner of my choice: Das Dutchman Essenhaus.  We ate family style and it was so good! I mentioned last week that there was a spin bike on sale at Dunham's for an unbelievable price and that I would love to have.  All week I've been looking for a sign that Austin just might have picked up on the hinting and bought it for me...but nothing.  As we were heading down the drive, Austin pulled into the garage, put the door up and sure enough, there was my bike! (still in the box but I'll take it anyway I get it)  My mom also gave me a wonderful card with a nice little gift tucked inside.  What a great birthday!     

We're into monkey cards in this family right now.  I call Hadley my little monkey quite a bit as we play, and just last week she was wearing her sunglasses around all evening.  I kept asking her if her future was looking bright, just to hear her say "Yep!" in response.  So, my birthday card with a monkey wearing sunglasses was perfect! 

When we were getting ready to leave, all of the wait staff kept coming up and saying, "Oh, she is super cute!"  I thought it was just in response to me taking her picture, but then one of the waitresses said that our waitress had come into the kitchen and told everyone that she met the cutest little girl and she's sure to be her son's (who is 2) future wife.  Daddy had something else to say though, "Whoa, not so fast, she's already spoken for with a nice dowry from the (Wyatt) Tennery family!"       

...and my lovely spin bike all put together!

A day at the Kosciusko County Fair

Mom and I took Hadley to the Kosciusko County Fair today.  I haven't been since I was in college, but things haven't changed much.  We went during the day today because there was free admission before 1:00 p.m.  Boy was it a hot one!  When we arrived, we immediately ate lunch first at the Lion's Club stand because we were starving!  I always seem to pick out the Lion's Club stands at festivals/fairs...hmm.  After we finished eating, we strolled around the fair grounds for a while prior to heading down to check out the animals, which Hadley loved. 

Our fair grounds is located on Winona Lake.  A beautiful view that has caused much controversy in this town over the usage of such waterfront.  It makes for a nice backdrop from the grandstand though.

I was a little bummed when I looked at the pictures of Hadley with mom and the sheep.  I had something on my lens and didn't notice at first.  Oh well, Hadley had a great time checking out the sheep with Grandma Joyce.  At first she was a little hesitant to pet them, but she warmed up pretty fast after she watched Grandma do it.

Hadley was trying to tell the goat in the picture below to go back to his pen.  She wasn't too happy that he wanted to chew on her stroller.

As we were leaving the barn, I just happened to look up and see sponsors names hanging from the rafters.  Included was my dad's younger brother, my uncle Doug Wise and his family.  Pretty neat!

After we checked out the goats, we headed over to the chickens and then onto the rabbits. 

Hadley and I found a really fluffy one and she enjoyed petting his soft fur coat.

We headed over to check out the cows and then moved onto the horses, which Hadley had been asking about all day.  In the cow barn, she kept calling some of them horses so I had to correct her.  In return, when we got to the horse barn she called some of them cows.  When I corrected her again, she looked really confused.  I need to get picture of both a cow and a horse together and show her the difference.  However, I think the different colored coats were throwing her off, because she usually doesn't mistake them for each other.  Ah, the mind of a little one learning...it was pretty cute though! 

They had an Old McDonald petting barn, and we took Hadley in to check out the baby animals.

Hadley was checking out the baby calves in the pictures below.  She was pretty excited that they were so small and at her eye level.

...and I just love her expression below.  "Oh my!"

The Indianapolis Colts and Cheerleaders were here today.  We didn't see them, but we saw their semi!

Today was kiddie day so the rides only cost $1.00.  Hadley wanted to ride the Safari train, and they let me ride with her.  I asked her if she liked it and she said, "yep!"  (her new reply for everything)

When we got off the train, Hadley helped herself to the duck game next door.  I felt obligated to pay since she had picked up the ducks and was splashing in the water.  It was only $3.00 and the lady guaranteed her a prize.  After I paid, I told her to pick out a duck and hand it to the lady.  When she did, she actually had a "winner" on the bottom! She picked out the tiny hot pink bear as her prize. 

We had a fun, but very hot day at our county fair!

Splish Splash

Happy 4th of July!

Austin, Hadley and I don't get to spend a lot of time together, particularly entire days, so we decided not to invite anyone over today, so that we could do just that.  We spent the entire day together and it was awesome! 

Hadley spent some time playing on her new swing set...

...and then we got in the lake to splash around.

Daddy and Hadley had a great time splashing, floating and blowing bubbles!

After swimming, Hadley played in her sandbox for a little while.  We pretty much did almost everything fun around our house today, and it was great! 

She was cracking us up because she wouldn't sit in the sand.  She acted like it was icky and she didn't want to get dirty.  She kept heading over to the lake to wash off her hands. 

We just happened to be in the house when my mom called.  She was driving by on her way home from Ohio, where she spent the holiday weekend with my great uncle Billy.  She asked what we were doing, and we told her we were just about to go for a boat ride and asked her to join us.  Hadley had a great time sitting at the front of the boat with Grandma! 

We spent the remainder of the evening watching more firework shows and then called it a day.  This was a great holiday weekend.  What an amazing husband and daughter I have been blessed with, and I love spending time with them!  

Happy Independence Day!